Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Trade-Ideas LLC identified AK Steel ( AKS) as a "water-logged and getting wetter" (weak stocks crossing below support with today's range greater than 200%) candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified AK Steel as such a stock due to the following factors:

AKS has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $86.0 million.

AKS has traded 19.8 million shares today.

AKS traded in a range 244.4% of the normal price range with a price range of $1.15.

AKS traded below its daily resistance level (quality: 17 days, meaning that the stock is crossing a resistance level set by the last 17 calendar days. The resistance price is defined by the Price - $0.01 at the time of the signal).

Stocks matching the 'Water-Logged and Getting Wetter' criteria are worthwhile stocks to watch for a variety of factors including historical back testing and volatility. Trade-Ideas targets these opportunities because the stock is exhibiting an unusual behavior while displaying negative price action. In this case, the stock crossed an important inflection point; namely, "support" while at the same time the range of the stock's movement in price is twice its normal size. This large range foreshadows a possible continuation as the stock moves lower.

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More details on AKS:

AK Steel Holding Corporation, through its subsidiary, AK Steel Corporation, produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel, and tubular products in the United States and internationally. Currently there are 3 analysts that rate AK Steel a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 7 rate it a hold.

The average volume for AK Steel has been 12.9 million shares per day over the past 30 days. AK has a market cap of $1.0 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. The stock has a beta of 1.96 and a short float of 29.3% with 2.86 days to cover. Shares are down 9.4% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

TheStreet Quant Ratings rates AK Steel as a sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$206.10 million or 111.38% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

The gross profit margin for AK STEEL HOLDING CORP is currently extremely low, coming in at 10.25%. Regardless of AKS's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, AKS's net profit margin of -1.11% significantly underperformed when compared to the industry average.

This stock has increased by 64.47% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the future course of this stock, we feel that the risks involved in investing in AKS do not compensate for any future upside potential, despite the fact that it has seen nice gains over the past 12 months.

AK STEEL HOLDING CORP reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, AK STEEL HOLDING CORP continued to lose money by earning -$0.34 versus -$9.10 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings (-$0.24 versus -$0.34).

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income increased by 57.7% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$40.40 million to -$17.10 million.

The company's largest driver to use U.S. steel on the exterior of its cars is likely logistics, not patriotism. Meanwhile, the company uses various parts on the interiors of its vehicles that are made using steel from across the globe.